All Black midfield options
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@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
Yeah and for the Blues it's how they use RTS & Heem. Ioane will be the 13 of course
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@Duluth said in All Black midfield options:
@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
Yeah and for the Blues it's how they use RTS & Heem. Ioane will be the 13 of course
Haven’t the Blues used 2 or 3 different players at 12 this year?
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@ACT-Crusader said in All Black midfield options:
@Duluth said in All Black midfield options:
@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
Yeah and for the Blues it's how they use RTS & Heem. Ioane will be the 13 of course
Haven’t the Blues used 2 or 3 different players at 12 this year?
RTS started when he was fit. Heem generally got the other games. Evans, T Tele’a got matches too. Plummer was injured or he would’ve probably got time too
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@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
The Canes have Moorby and Love as fullback options so it’s most likely Barrett will play a lot at 12 next year which is a good thing for the ABs.
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@Canes4life said in All Black midfield options:
@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
The Canes have Moorby and Love as fullback options so it’s most likely Barrett will play a lot at 12 next year which is a good thing for the ABs.
Holland has already says he's sees him primarily as 12
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@Machpants said in All Black midfield options:
@Canes4life said in All Black midfield options:
@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
The Canes have Moorby and Love as fullback options so it’s most likely Barrett will play a lot at 12 next year which is a good thing for the ABs.
Holland has already says he's sees him primarily as 12
Did he say this before JB played at 12 for ABs?
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@nostrildamus said in All Black midfield options:
@Machpants said in All Black midfield options:
@Canes4life said in All Black midfield options:
@Bovidae said in All Black midfield options:
It's not just the Crusaders whose selections will impact the ABs midfield (form and time in a certain position). Holland needs to play JB at 2nd 5, and not swap him between 12 and 15. The same to a lesser degree with ALB at the Chiefs.
The Canes have Moorby and Love as fullback options so it’s most likely Barrett will play a lot at 12 next year which is a good thing for the ABs.
Holland has already says he's sees him primarily as 12
Did he say this before JB played at 12 for ABs?
And after, if I remember correctly
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@No-Quarter said in All Black midfield options:
@Chris-B said in All Black midfield options:
@No-Quarter said in All Black midfield options:
@Chris-B said in All Black midfield options:
@mariner4life No. The argument is that we've won quite a bit more against big teams than we've lost with Havili in the team.
He's no Ma'a Nonu, but he's decent enough.
I don't know if we can afford to play him next to Mo'unga. Our inside channel becomes a real liability on defense. He also can't be paired with ALB as we saw in the weekend, and he doesn't attract any defense in close to free up space for his outsides. I think he's a decent squaddie but if we're down to him starting a big test we're in a bit of trouble.
Yeah - I've got significant doubts that Dave and Anton are incisive enough. Dave and Rieko work OK. Dave is a bit Aaron Mauger, which will "attract attention".
I'd be very happy to have Jordie at 12 if I didn't also want him at 15. I'm probably less convinced about Beaudy there than some, these days
I think Beauden has played some of his best rugby for the ABs at 15, and he'll offer a lot more than Jordie on attack from the back. Do you think your boy Will is ready for the 15 jumper yet? I am sympathetic to your views on Jordie at the back though, he'll diffuse any plans teams have to launch high balls at us to the point that they are just giving back possession. However I'm not sure we can afford to be too defensively minded this RWC - if we're gonna win it we are going to have to throw caution to the wind and try to rack up some points against the big teams, as our defense hasn't been good enough to keep them under 20 points on consistent basis.
My backline right now has to be:
9. Smith
10. Mo'unga
11. Clarke
12. Jordie
13. Rieko
14. Jordan
15. BeaudenYou could slot Jordan at 15 and Reece on the right wing and we don't lose much. But to me that gives us the best balance of play makers and players that can genuinely beat their man and score points from almost anywhere. You put those guys behind our improved forward performances of late and we're in with a very good shout.
This is pretty much the top backline and good enough to develop into "best of" All Black backlines if kept together and injury free. On the bench I'd have - TJ/Weber, DMAC, ALB
with Havili, Telea, Reece, Christie in the squad.The balance with;
- 3 playmakers/kickers (Richie, Jordie, BB)
- Experience of Smith
- Ball carrying/kicking of Jordie
- Pace of Rieko
- Power of Clarke
- Freakish scoring ability of Jordan
- Experience of BB
This is it. Keep them together and manage them through the lead in to RWC.
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I hope Goodhue gets a full season without injuries. I still think he has potential to be a very good centre, even lacking top line speed.
We don't really need a brilliant player at 13, just a competent, organised and reliable player who takes the right options. It's been a while since we saw Goodhue sans injury but he could fill that role if he doesn't break down.